Remarks on the Skull of an Ancient Peruvian. 79 



to three. It is unnecessary to enter into further details, as 

 the above are sufficient for comparison with other crania. 

 I also exhibit a skull brought from the same locality, near 

 Pachacamac, but destitute of ossa wormiana, and in which 

 there is not the slightest trace of a furrow to indicate the 

 remains of a former suture. In contrast to the national 

 flatheaded skull, I produce a skull belonging to the tribe of 

 the Chinooks from Vancouver Island. It is a well-known 

 practice amongst this tribe to flatten the head in infancy ; 

 but, as Dr Pickering remarks, " As the children grow up, 

 the cranium tends to resume its natural shape, so that the 

 majority of grown persons hardly manifest the existence of 

 the practice. One effect, however/' he adds, " seemed to 

 be permanently distinguishable, in the unusual breadth of 

 the face/' Both statements are well borne out in an adult 

 specimen in my possession, likewise brought home by Com- 

 mander Palmer, the breadth between the malar bones 

 being 5£ inches. I have thus briefly referred to the au- 

 thorities and statements upon which the hypothesis of a 

 distinct race of man has been founded, and hitherto pretty 

 generally accepted. The chief osteological characters are 

 the peculiar flattening of the skull and the assertion of the 

 constant presence of an inter-parietal bone, or os Incm as 

 it is termed by Yon Tschudi, in compliment to the nation 

 in which the peculiarity is said alone to be found. The 

 question has been ably and successfully investigated by Dr 

 Archibald Smith, whose long residence in Lima afforded, 

 him favourable opportunities for that purpose. In a com- 

 munication entitled "Peruvian Gleanings" published in the 

 Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal for 1860, Dr Smith 

 says, " That in regard to the supposed osteological type of 

 wormian bones in all the crania of the Peruvian Indian 

 race, he found, upon due inquiry at the Medical College at 

 Lima, that neither its deacon nor professors could give him 

 the least information. He then applied to Dr Lorenti, one 

 of the best authorities in Peru on such subjects, who at 

 once assured Dr Smith that Tschudi's statement was utterly 

 untrue. Dr Smith afterwards went to the museum, and saw 

 five native Indian skulls from ancient tombs in which the 



